2115 GMT: King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has just given a televised speech in which he declared that the "bloodshed of innocents, which has nothing to do with morals nor religion, is not acceptable" in Syria and Saudi Arabia cannot accept what is happening in Syria: "There is no justification."

Abdullah continued, "We demand a stop to the killings and bloodshed. Stop killing and start reforms".

Saudi Arabia has withdrawn its Ambassador from Damascus "for consultations".

At least three Libyan opposition fighters have been killed in clashes near the northern town of Zlitan, just 160km (100 miles) from the capital, as government troops fought rebel forces for control of the town.

Several other opposition forces were injured in the fighting on Sunday, as troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi continued an assault against anti-government fighters.

Opposition forces were also under attack in the newly captured town of Bir Ghanem, a strategic location in western Libya, 85km from the capital, Tripoli, where Gaddafi forces launched an offensive to regain control of the town.

The opposition forces are attempting to get closer to Tripoli, and they expressed hope earlier this week that they would reach the capital before the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

2010 GMT: A snapshot in a New York Times summary of today's events in Syria: " A resident [of Deir Ez Zor] who gave his name as Maamoun said that pickup trucks packed with as many as 25 women and children each were fleeing down abandoned streets, trying to avoid the fighting."

Assault means the army wants to incite the tribes against them and start a civil war. Entire areas are closed down. We can hear gunfire and heavy artillery. No one is on the streets. They have put checkpoints in place all over. They have declared every neighborhood a war front. Mortars and anti-aircraft weapons are being used. This is terrorism.

We only depend on ourselves. We aren’t holding our breath for anything to come out of [United Nations] Security Council. We knew from the beginning what we were getting ourselves into.

We do not feel defeated. No one can defeat the people. The people have spoken, no matter how many tanks roll on into our city.

1810 GMT: Another clip of the chaos as security forces fired on a funeral procession in Idlib in northwest Syria (see 1635 GMT):

1705 GMT: Syrian security forces patrol the streets of Idlib with gunfire while a dead body lies in the street:

1645 GMT: A senior Bahraini prosecutor, Abdul Rahman Al Syed, said on Sunday that two former lawmakers, a lawyer, and several other detainees had been released "following a study of the cases transferred from the national safety court to the regular courts".

Former MPs Jawad Fairooz and Mattar Mattar represented the opposition Al Wefaq in the lower chamber. They resigned alongside 16 other MPs from Al Wefaq during the February uprising to protest against the resoonse of the authorities. They were arrested in early May.

In an interview on Saturday evening, Cherif Bassiouni, the head of the royal commission investigating the events of the uprising, said 147 Bahraini detainees would be released “within hours."

More than 40 detainees of the uprising were freed last week.

1635 GMT: Back from a break to find the latest from Syria....

The activists of the Local Co-ordination Committees of Syria claim= that regime forces killed more than 70 people in several cities, with at least at least 50 people slain in the military shelling of the northeastern city of Deir Ez Zor.

Video of military vehicles cutting off a bridge in Deir Ez Zor:

Claimed footage of the military firing on the funeral march of two people in Idlib in the northwest (compare this with video of gunfire on a funeral procession in Douma outside Damascus at 1250 GMT):

1250 GMT: Moments after we posted the clip of thousands of people at a funeral procession in Douma (see 1247 GMT), we saw this claimed video of security forces firing on the march:

1247 GMT: Claimed footage of a funeral procession in the Damascus suburb of Douma today:

1245 GMT: Activists now say at least 38 people have died today in the military assaults on Deir Ez Zor in the northeast and Houla in Homs Province in central Syria.

1240 GMT: Claimed footage of a general strike in Idlib in northwest Syria over the military attacks on civilians:

Most of the casualties were in the al-Joura district in the west of the city.

A resident said, "Early this morning columns of army tanks and bulldozers, under cover of heavy rounds of gunfire, stormed into the western and northern entrances of the city and dismantled barricades set up by residents. A dozen tanks are taking position in the main square in Jubaila market in the northern sector of Deir Ez Zor."

1020 GMT: We have seen a series of videos this morning purporting to be of clashes between security forces and groups of protesters in Bahrain. This clip is from Sitra:

To the resentment of many other Syrians as they watch President Bashar Assad wage a brutal crackdown, the people of Aleppo appear to be going about their lives as if the revolt were in another country. Aleppo has seen some small protests over the last five months, but they have paled in comparison with demonstrations in other parts of the country.

The report cites "renewed prosperity [which] has contributed to the reluctance to join the revolution and disrupt a comfortable status quo", and it quotes an activist who points to a combination of regime enforcement and concessions, ""They are really trying to give reasons for the people to be happy. So for some people these are really wonderful times."

1005 GMT: A late-night demonstration in Taiz in Yemen expresses support for the Syrian opposition:

0940 GMT: The latest from Syrian military operations this morning....

One activist in the northeastern city of Deir Ez Zor, now reportedly being shelled, says, "Human conditions in the city are very bad since it has been under siege for nine days. There is lack of medicine, baby formula, food stuff and gasoline. The city is totally paralysed."

The activist said there had been casualties, and many of the wounded cannot be taken to hospitals and are being treated in homes and mosques turned into clinics.

In the central province of Homs, Syrian security forces backed by tanks have killed eight civilians and wounded several others in a crackdown on the town of Houla, according to an activist.

0700 GMT: Syria's opposition, the Local Co-ordination Committees, report gunfire in the Oradi neighbourhood of Deir Ez Zor in the northeast. They also claim there are snipers on the rooftops of "most of the high buildings" in the Joura neighbourhood.

0635 GMT: We have reports that the Syrian military are shelling the city of Deir Ez Zor in the northeast. Video of the skyline this morning:

Claimed footage of one of the military posts firing into the city:

0615 GMT: A Saudi Arabian official has said that Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh left a Riyadh hospital where he was being treated for injuries from a bombing at the start of June: "The Yemeni president left the military hospital this (Saturday) evening at 9:00 p.m. (1800 GMT) after receiving the necessary treatment and was taken to a temporary residence for a recovery period."

The official said Saleh will remain in the Saudi capital.

0600 GMT: AFP publishes a video report on insurgents living in caves in the western Libyan mountains, used also by the rebellion against the Italian occupation in the early 20th century:

0525 GMT: We begin with the nightly pattern of mass protest in Syrian cities. A recurrent chant in the overnight demonstrations was a message to President Assad: "Come On, Bashar, Leave!" First, the Khalidiya section of Homs:

Aleppo --- often represented as a city where residents are disinterested in opposition:

A march in Idlib in the northwest:

Deir Ez Zor in the northeast:

And, if this footage is legitimate, even Hama --- occupied by the military last week at the cost of hundreds dead --- saw a rally in the Kafarzeta district: